Fresh strawberries and balsamic vinegar are a match made in heaven. These quick and easy strawberry shortcakes take no time to whip up and they taste utterly amazing! Perfect for a summer picnic!
“Mum, do you know what I really, really want?” our youngest son (aged 8 and 1/4) asked recently.
“What’s that?” I enquired.
“Squirty cream, so I can squirt it right into my mouth!” he laughed.
“Um….. ok?!” I chuckled, “I’ll see what I can do.”
So when I next went to the village shop and spied a giant punnet of Scottish strawberries on offer, I remembered my son’s desire for squirty cream and took the notion of making some strawberry shortcakes for our Sunday picnic.
Of course they couldn’t just be ordinary strawberry shortcakes, like the ones I grew up with (Cape Breton baking powder biscuits sweetened with a little bit of sugar and topped with berries and fresh cream), no, I had to jazz things up a bit with some good quality Italian balsamic vinegar and decent sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.
If you didn’t already know, balsamic vinegar, black pepper and fresh strawberries are a food combination made in heaven. Honestly, try it – just slice your berries, drizzle over some vinegar (good stuff though, not cheap supermarket stuff) and sprinkle over some fresh black pepper (again, none of that powdery awful dried stuff – use freshly ground pepper). You’ll be a convert, promise!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES RECIPE
- flour – I used sprouted wheat flour
- baking powder
- vanilla sugar (caster or granulated will work too)
- a pinch of sea salt
- plain natural yoghurt
- butter
- milk
- free range egg
- strawberries
- balsamic vinegar
- whole black peppercorns – they taste better when freshly ground
- double cream (or cheat with some squirty cream!)
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My strawberry shortcake base was made with some sprouted wheat flour, a new flour that’s taking the baking community by storm. The wheat grains are soaked for 24 hours before being allowed to sprout for five days and then the whole thing is milled like regular flour is. The theory is that this flour is easier to digest and packed full of more nutrients than regular flour, and it certainly does make for a rather fantastic shortcake base. Look out for sprouted wheat flour in your nearest wholefoods store.
Our fishing pond picnic strawberry shortcakes were served with the squirty cream (pictured above), much to our son’s delight. The strawberries with the balsamic and black pepper syrup were really easy to transport in our picnic basket too. The shortcake bases just needed slicing, a spoonful of berries and syrup added and then topped with a generous squirt of cream.
I can also attest that any leftover syrup works really well in a berry pie filling – just cut up loads of mixed berries and sprinkle with plenty of sugar, to taste, heat in a pan until the berries begin to break down and thicken the whole mixture with cornflour dissolved in some water. Use to fill your favourite pie crust and bake. Delicious!
At home though, in our garden picnic, I served the strawberry shortcakes with some whipped Scottish double cream, sweetened with a little bit of homemade vanilla sugar.
To make your own vanilla sugar, once you’ve used the seeds from the pod in your recipe pop the pod itself into a jar and fill with some caster sugar. Leave it there for a few weeks and the pod will infuse the sugar with a gorgeous vanilla flavouring.
If you don’t have vanilla sugar simply replace it for regular caster sugar in the recipe and add a half teaspoonful of vanilla bean paste.
All in all, this makes for a rather fantastic summer picnic recipe. Do let me know if you try it!
Strawberry Shortcakes with a Balsamic Vinegar & Black Pepper Syrup
Ingredients
for the shortcakes
- 300 grams plain flour sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch Shetland sea salt
- 50 grams vanilla sugar
- 60 grams butter
- 125 grams plain natural yoghurt
- 3-4 tbsp full fat milk
- 1 small free-range egg beaten, to glaze
- 1 tbsp caster sugar to sprinkle
for the strawberries
- 600 grams fresh strawberries
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (or more or less, to taste)
- 60 grams caster sugar
for the whipped cream
- 300 ml double cream
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220 C/ 200 C fan/ 425 F and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Rub the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla sugar and butter together in a medium sized bowl until it resembles fine bread crumbs.
- Add the yogurt and milk and stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for a minute or so until smooth.
- Flatten the dough your hands and, with a rolling pin, roll out into a rectangle about one inch thick. Cut into eight even sized pieces and place on the baking paper.
- Glaze with the beaten egg and sprinkle with caster sugar.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes in the middle of the oven until well risen and golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To prepare the strawberries: slice large ones and quarter the small ones. Place them in to a bowl. Pour over the balsamic vinegar and sprinkle over the caster sugar and the freshly ground black pepper. Leave at room temperature for half an hour.
- To prepare the cream: whip the cream with a whisk until it begins to thicken. Sprinkle over the vanilla sugar and whip until the cream forms soft peaks. Refrigerate until needed.
- To serve, slice each shortcake into half, spoon over some whipped cream and top with the sliced strawberries in syrup. Serve immediately.
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Tried these and they were so good!
Great recipe. Elizabeth always has the best recipes!
Oh my goodness… these sound like heaven!
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Looks so appealing and delicious. Thanks for sharing
Cant wait to prepare some. looks so yummy.
Yummy…Strawberries and cream
We love strawberries, so this one is right up my street.
I love strawberries but it never occured to me that I can make a sandwich with it, I love the idea!
Seriously this looks amazing, I could so eat it right now x
Wow the photos make it looks soooo appealing
Oh my goodness, these look divine! I’m going to try making these at the weekend.
Oh yumm, loving the strawberry season!
Hey, looks great and very refreshing. Would love to try it as soon as possible!
What a summery-looking picnic. Gorgeous combination of ingredients. Love the addition of the black pepper!
those are some beautiful looking strawberry shortcakes. i don’t think mine would look quite like that…lol…but, i guess all that matters at the end of the day is that they taste good and i’m sure they will if i follow this recipe.
What a way to celebrate summer with a bang. Looks lush!
I think we’re so used to using salt we forget how good pepper can be at bringing out flavour in a different way. Love the idea of adding it along with balsamic to give the strawberry shortcake an extra dimension!
this looks so amazing, I am a big fan of anything with strawberries in it so this is a winner
This looks and sounds delicious. I love the combination of strawberries and balsamic – sounds really interesting.
My littlest would FREAK OUT for this. It’s too bad I didn’t see this a month earlier-this would have been her perfect birthday meal. Okay next year then!
strawberry is so cool to have in meals and to have them in cakes of such form is delight in taste. will follow this recipe and put through.
At what stage do you add the pepper? It’s not in the recipe
Doh! That’ll teach me to write up recipes late and night when I’m tired! All fixed now. 🙂 You add it with the vingear.
So the balsamic and black pepper syrup are mixed in with the strawberries? I had imagined a drizzle syrup. Yum
I can definitely see doing the balsamic with the strawberries and the whipped cream. I have had it on Strawberry Ice Cream. And it’s awesome. But the pepper does sound a little odd.
Ooh these look good! I have never made vanilla sugar before so may have to investigate this or try it with normal sugar 🙂 My kids love starwberries
My Mum introduced me to the black pepper strawberry trick when I was a kid, but it took a while for the balsamic addition to be added. And you are so right, it is delicious. As I’m sure are these beautiful creamy scones with squirty cream. Gorgeous images, as always, Elizabeth. Summer looks mighty fine in the Shetlands 🙂
Awwwww, these fabulous pictures have me desperate for a picnic which absolutely must include strawberry shortcakes. Must be in a shady spot though – this hot weather is too much for me. I’m always very confused by the term shortcakes and I’m never quite sure if they are just a fancy name for scones.
This recipe looks amazing and it’s definitely perfect for summer! I’d love to make my own vanilla sugar. I can’t wait to make it to be honest, because it looks so good!
these look really beautiful and so summery – we are still getting strawberries but from up north now it is winter and I now wish for picnics and berries and balmy days. But no squirty cream thank you – it has never been something I desired but I am sure I would find plenty who would.
Oh my this looks like such a delicous treat! Perfect for picnics and i do love strawberries
I keep forgetting about black pepper and strawberries, must try the balsamic too. Your shortcake looks awesome.
What a combination! I wouldn’t have thought to pair Italian Balsamic Vinegar and black pepper with strawberry shortcake. I’ll admit the cajun in me is intrigued about the sweet and spicy taste with fresh strawberries.
I would love to try that. The use of balsamic is interesting but it looks amazing with those strawberries.
I have never heard to put vinegar and pepper on strawberries. I will have to try that. This recipe looks delicious. I love strawberry shortcakes. This is different than what I’ve always known. I will have to try this since it is different.
That looks heavenly and I’d heard of sprouted flour, but didn’t have a clue what it was all about, so it was nice to have an explanation and feel less clueless 🙂
Thanks for linking to me x
I so want to eat these right now, strawberries are by far my fave fruit.
The look absolutely devine! This is definitely my kind of cake, bit of fresh fruit and cream, you can’t beat it! I would never have thought to add balsamic vinegar, definitely a surprise ingredient
I love strawberries. I will try to make this.
I’m enjoying strawberries so much at the moment, they just seem soooo flavoursome.
I didn’t know about balsamic vinegar and black pepper going well with strawberries. I am going to have to try it now! These look utterly mouthwateringly good!
This to me looks like a lot of work, but I’m sure that it’s definitely worth it. Or maybe I should try it myself. Hmmm…
No this is a yummy looking picnic snack. Love that it only takes maximum 30 minutes preparation time! And strawberries are definitely my favorite summer fruit so am trying this soon.
What a great recipe. I would have never thought about putting these ingredients together. It looks so tasty and refreshing.
This looks so tasty and awesome! I love strawberry shortcakes but I do not have the time to make them. This recipe looks quick and easy! Love it!
Whaaaat? Vinegar with strawberries? Girl, I am crazy enough to try this out, I warn you, I’ll come back to tell you ALL about it, lol!
The balsamic sounds super yummy with the strawberries. Not so sure about the pepper. But we love berries in my house!
Oh my goodness how absolutely delicious do they look, I could most definitely tuck into one right now – just thought is making my mouth water.
Oh, how I love berry season and strawberry shortcake! I haven’t been on a picnic in a while, these make me want to pack a basket immediately!
This is just beautiful. Perfect summer dessert. Lovely photos.
These look amazing! Fresh strawberries are the best! I would have never thought to have them with vinegar & pepper, YUM
A perfect strawberry season recipe. Love the balsamic vinegar addition!
Oh how beautiful. I can’t get enough seasonal strawberries right now. Soooo sweet and juicy!
This looks lovely, what a perfect hot summer’s day treat. Strawberries are the best!
This is brilliant – I’m off on a picnic next weekend so I’m going to impress the clan and make a few of these – thanks for the inspiration!
Drooling at the thought of this. I can’t wait to make it myself.
This looks so sinful my dear and you have added those juicy strawberry, a perfect treat for me.